BlessedMommy

Remember to read the Newbie info 101 info. It gives valuable information on how to do the gluten-free diet successfully, including preventing cross contamination.

I hope that you feel better soon!

Oh yes, I love having the excuse! Being gluten-free is a great excuse to munch an apple when other people are having cake, nobody expects me to eat it or gets offended when I don't.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The encouragement on this thread helped me to finally take action. My son has been doing a gluten challenge since last Wednesday after I called and checked with his doctor's office. My daughter's doctor's office just called and said to go ahead and gradually start her on gluten and the doctor can order the labs when we go in next, to be drawn whenever our full gluten challenge is done.

It really doesn't matter what my kids have (or don't have, for that matter, my son has been doing great with the gluten challenge), I'll be happy with any answer as long as I'm reasonably confident that it's accurate. 

I think that my problem was that I was literally paralyzed with worry, going over every worst case scenario, to the point where I was afraid to do anything and so I was perpetually stuck in the uncomfortable middle ground. 

So here's to moving forward!

I'm sorry, that sounds frustrating.

Have you tried celiac blood testing yet?

I'm sorry that you're feeling bad. Hopefully you will get some definite answers.

Remember not to overdo the gluten, one sandwich a day is plenty. 

Great, thank you. I will do that.

I've investigated further and the "buyer" used a mail center box as the shipping address. The mail center box was opened only a month ago and the name and phone number on the box do not match the name and (fake) phone number of the buyer. Ugh!

Yes, I have opened an investigation with PayPal. If I felt that this was a legitimate buyer who was simply being a pain in the neck, I would have more tolerance for processing a refund.

But the fact that the "buyer" is using a stolen phone number really speaks volumes to me and red flags me. Something smells fishy. Legitimate buyers don't give out fake phone numbers. I talked with the real owner of the phone number after doing some internet research and he did not know the alleged buyer and had no knowledge of the transaction.

PayPal has frozen the account of the "buyer" and is investigating further.

SMRI, waffles are really good with other toppings other than syrup. I make whole grain gluten free waffles on a regular basis and serve them with unsweetened applesauce, peanut butter, fruit juice sweetened jam, butter, and fresh berries. (like raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, etc.)

$150 is pretty cheap for tests. 

I know that even if I had been able to finish my gluten challenge, I would have only been able to afford bloodwork and not biopsy and thus wouldn't have ended up with a gold standard DX anyway. I've heard that the endoscopy can run thousands of dollars.

Yep, I second the hope for better testing. I just hope that it's not too expensive, I could probably never afford to pay for an in vitro gliadin challenge out of pocket.

I'm looking for any advice from anybody who is experienced in Ebay selling.

My husband and I sell Iphones on Ebay for side income. We sell all of our Iphones brand new still in their original sealed packaging. We specify on our auctions that no returns are allowed.

Recently, we sold a phone to a man in California. The phone was shipped and immediately after receiving it, the buyer filed a PayPal dispute and escalated it to a claim in a matter of minutes--all without speaking to us or seeking any resolution. His claim was that the phone was Apple locked and couldn't be activated and therefore he wanted to send it back.

Well, first of all, there should be no issue with locks, since there were no prior users. Anybody with a high school education should be able to activate their Iphone with help from Verizon. It's not rocket science. Secondly, if there was some sort of freak incident where the phone got damaged, it should be an insurance claim and insurance should pay the damages. The buyer has also refused to answer any communication from us. He will not answer his emails or return our phone calls.

When I looked up the phone number the buyer provided us, it belonged to another person in another city altogether. Also, when I google the buyer's name one result that comes up (right in the same area as the phone was shipped to) is a Doctor--specifically an internal Medicine/Pulmonologist. 

With multiple red flags, I'm wondering if a crook purchased the phone under a stolen PayPal account. If the person who was the alleged buyer is actually a victim of financial or identity theft, I want to go to bat for them and protect them.

I just found the owner of the phone number that the guy gave us and talked to him--not surprisingly he didn't purchase the item and someone else used his phone number. What should I do from here?

I'm vegetarian and dairy free. 

Will shortening work fine? I saw an organic non-hydrogenated shortening in the store. 

I don't blame you. What a lot of hassle to go through!

If you want to screen your nutrient levels, you can always order the bloodwork yourself.

You are celiac and I wouldn't consider you self-diagnosed. You had the tests done.

If a celiac had positive bloodwork and a positive biopsy and the doctor told them they don't have celiac, that doesn't make it true. A duck is a duck, regardless. 

Wow, Georgia_guy, that's pretty crazy that your doctor won't acknowledge your lab work! Are you going to switch doctors? Another doctor could look at your lab work and notate it in your charts.

Nope! Definitely not worth it. 

I wouldn't do another gluten challenge for a million dollars!

I'm so sorry that you got hit with gluten! Best wishes for a fast recovery! Remember to drink lots of water, get rest when you can, and eat whole, simple nourishing foods.

Was this a trusted restaurant that glutened you or a new one?

I want to get good at making pie crusts. Tell me all your secrets please!

I just made one that turned out really tough and hard and I want to try again.

First of all, how much gluten do you think that you averaged per day during the past few months? It doesn't sound like you went 100% gluten free, so there may be a chance you could get tested still. Blood tests are probably worth a shot anyway?

As for me, I'm strictly gluten free and have never been DX'ed with celiac. Long story short, the doctors couldn't figure out the source of my problem, so I tried an elimination diet and put two and two together. By the time that I wanted to go back on gluten to get tested, I had such a severe reaction (neurological complications) after only a week and a half of gluten that everybody decided that there was no point in going any further. I'm too young to have a stroke!

Really, the main reason for a DX (other than knowing genetic risk for offspring) is so that you won't be as tempted to cut corners on your gluten free diet. If you can stay 100% gluten free without a DX, then you can do without it. It is very important though to be strict, if you decide to forgo a DX. 

There really aren't that many compelling reasons why adults have to have a DX. A DX is always helpful but definitely not mandatory.

Some people cite the chance of hospitalization and needing gluten free food as one reason for getting a DX, but here are my two cents on that:

1) If you are lucky enough to have a hospital with a reliable gluten free menu, chances are slim to none that they will require proof of celiac disease to eat off of their menu. Speaking as someone who actually has been in a hospital overnight with a great gluten-free menu since going gluten-free (I was there with my son after he had a major fracture and needed an orthopedic surgeon), they were more than happy to let us eat off their gluten-free menu without presenting proof of any medical conditions.

2) In the more likely case, that you have a hospital that is not great at accomodating the gluten free diet, you will probably be providing your own food anyway (in the form of spouse or friend bringing it from home), whether you have a DX or not. 

The bottom line for those of us who choose not to (or cannot) get a DX is that if gluten makes you sick or causes health issues don't eat it. Don't worry about what other people think! It's been a real learning process for me.

Depending on who asks me why I'm gluten free, I vary it up some. I may say that I have a severe gluten intolerance or something like that. For people that are closer to me, they know about my medical history and why I couldn't make it through the gluten challenge.

Family and close friends, tend to know that my relationship with gluten is similar to the average person's relationship with rat poison.   My in-laws have gone out of their way to understand and accommodate me and have gone so far as to buy a brand new grill for dedicated use on gluten free items. They know that I can't risk having a stroke or other health complications. It's that simple.

I'm the first person to say that if you can get a DX, do it! But if you can't, don't be afraid to advocate for yourself and your needs. If gluten is poison to your body, that's a serious medical condition regardless of what label you put on it. 

I tried out their sub and it was good, but it more closely resembled a flat bread sandwich than a sub. The wait time was rather long there.

What was ironic was that my sandwich was made in Guido's kitchen and not WOW's. If they go to such trouble with their pizzas and move them to the WOW ovens to bake, I'm not sure why they would make a sub in Guido's instead of WOW? The man assured me though that there was a completely dedicated prep space for subs there and they take necessary precautions against CC. Considering the signs that they put up warning people not to CC things in WOW, I believe that they know what they're doing, but it still seems strange that the sandwich wasn't made in the gluten-free bakery kitchen.

(WOW and Guido's function basically as one unit with a doorway connecting the two)

When we come back in a few months, I would like to try their pizza.

Adelaide, I have Pamela's Artisan flour blend on hand. Do you think that would work?

Welcome to the forum!  No, you are not crazy!

I had a TIA that was directly related to gluten. The gluten caused severe chronic headaches (and I was a person who wasn't prone to frequent headaches and had no history of migraines before my gluten challenge) and the headaches led to the TIA. I had numbness on my right side and speech difficulties. I went to the ER and they diagnosed it as a TIA and told me that it meant that I had an elevated risk for stroke.

After I quit the gluten, I saw my doctor and he told me that he didn't think that further neurological tests were needed and that staying away from gluten was the best treatment. He was right--as soon as I stopped the gluten (which was immediately after my trip to the ER) my headaches started improving. After a few days, I felt completely normal and I have never had any recurrence. 

That episode though absolutely cemented the fact that I will never be doing a gluten trial again. It's just not worth the risk of having a full blown stroke!

I wish that I had more concrete information on the risk of TIA/stroke while on a gluten free diet for those who had gluten related ones previously.

It was great, because frankly I don't think that my husband would've ever gone out and looked for a cat, but after he saw how well this kitty cat fit with us, he let him stay.

It was kind of nice to have the decision sort of made for us. 

LOL!

It's pretty ridiculous and far fetched. Even if some wheat contamination could get into the water supply (which I doubt), it would surely dilute it down to about 0.00000000000000000000000001 PPM by the time that people actually drank it. 

To clarify, it was not anyone's pet. He caught a wild rabbit. Nonetheless, I would prefer that he go after mice and rats.